Rosie's Regretful Return
by celrock
Summary: Rosie tells the story of her final trip to visit Tommy as a 4-year-old toddler, only to be met with the regretful fact that he's going through his, 'I don't wanna play with girls stage.' Rosie is owned by Nairobi-harper, and this story is an homage to a Full House episode, when Michelle's best friend Teddy, was going through a similar stage.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is one of the three stories I meant to release back in September, only like everything else, it got pushed back by a month, due to other things going on in my life at the time, and I was inspired to write this story, after watching one of my favorite Full House episodes from season 5, and reading Nairobi-harper's story, 'No Girls Allowed,' which I hope she gets back to soon, as it's far from being finished. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this story, despite its tragic ending.

Rosie's Regretful Return

Summary: Rosie tells the story of her final trip to visit Tommy as a 4-year-old toddler, only to be met with the regretful fact that he's going through his, 'I don't wanna play with girls stage.' Rosie is owned by Nairobi-harper, and this story is an homage to a Full House episode, when Michelle's best friend Teddy, was going through a similar stage.

Disclaimer: I do not own the original Rugrats characters, they're the property of their original creaters. I own any OC's you don't recognize, like Zack, Reggie, his aunty Celeste, and Miss Weamer of the East Coast, you'll see what I mean when the story gets started, while Rosie and her family, Skyler and Bonnie are owned by Nairobi-harper, Aaron is owned by Cute_Sean, Hazel and Hanna are owned by HazelNutSwirl, Courtney is owned by Tropical Blue Jay, Anthony is owned by Sovietlolliepop, Natalie is owned by Emma Pickles, Tom Daniels is owned by LilNate03, Bassum is owned by TheUnkownAuthor, Jesse is owned by Jesse Barrow-Stories, and Peter is owned by TCKing12.

Chapter 1

Rosie POV

I was standing in the doorway of my closet, when I glanced up at the top shelf to spot something very familiar. It was the pink Dummi Bears throw blanket I had received as a birthday present a hair over two years ago from him. Yes, from him, the boy who shall no longer be named. And why was I no longer referring to him by name? While I stared up at that blanket, I had a flashback to when it all happened. To that day when I almost chopped up that blanket to shreds. The day I returned from what had to be, the worst vacation I ever took in my entire life.

It all happened over April vacation during my second and final year of preschool. On the Friday when we were getting out of school for break, I recall how the day ended.

"Have a nice vacation kids." Said Miss Weamer, as I and my other friends, walked out of the classroom and piled on to the schoolbus.

Now you may be wondering, how could I have a preschool teacher named Miss Weamer, and she was also the teacher of Tommy's cousin Angelica and neighbor Susie a couple of years prior? Wwell, there are in actuality, two Miss Weamers. There's the teacher out where Tommy lives, who was currently Tommy's teacher, as he too, was in his second year of preschool, as during our first year in preschool, he was taught by a lady named Miss Applebee, while I was taught by Miss Melody, but I guess it was tradition for people last named Weamer, to teach the four-year-olds. Turns out Tommy's Miss Weamer, and my Miss Weamer, are twin sisters who ended up with teaching jobs on the opposite sides of the country, and oddly enough, they were both in four-year-old preschool classrooms. I got on to the bus with my friends, Hazel, Courtney, Bonnie, Hanna, and Natalie, while the bus driver rolled Skyler up the handicap access ramp and got her wheelchair strapped in near where we were sitting.

On the way to my seat, I saw Aaron and Z sitting together near the front of the bus. Sadly, Aaron ditched our group sometime earlier that year to go play with the new kid, a four-year-old boy named Z, who had dark green spiked hair, and wore leather clothing. My parents didn't care much for Z, because he wore clothing that made him look like a bad boy, and sadly, Aaron followed right along with him, as the two boys constantly blushed at one another, shared lunches, and spent practically every moment they could together in preschool. I even caught them holding hands at circle time, and did all I could to keep myself from laughing, because it was obvious what was going on. Aaron and Z weren't just friends, oh no, they looked like a serious couple, who would most likely be together for life.

As a result of this change, this caused me to mainly play with the girls, which I didn't mind, because there was one boy who was still a part of my life. My purple haired Facetime friend, Tommy Pickles. Little did I know though what was about to happen that upcoming week. However, I didn't know quite yet. While on the bus ride home, me and the girls talked about our plans for spring break.

"So what are you guys doing for spring break?" I asked my friends.

"I'm going to visit grandma! She makes the bestest pancakes and woffles, Mmmm!" Said Hazel, licking her lips and smiling.

"My mommy and daddy are taking me to Disney World." Signed Natalie, as I interpreted it to the rest of the group, though by this point in our lives, only Bonnie and Skyler needed the verbal translation, the rest of us, could more or less, speak sign language with Natalie.

"I'm going to visit family in Russia, since we didn't get to go at Christmas, because I was sick, and the weather was too bad during winter break in February for us to leave town." Said Courtney.

"I'm going to New York to visit my uncle Myles." Said Hanna.

"Uh, my mommy and daddy are taking me to visit my aunt Martha up in Maine." Said Bonnie.

Just then, Skyler typed something into her device and it read something back to us.

"My grandparents are coming up for a visit. We're heading for the airport to pick them up as soon as I get home, and I won't be available at all next week to play, because we'll be busy taking my grandparents on tours of Boston." Read aloud Skyler's communication device.

This made me a little sad. None of my friends were going to be around to play with, and while chances are Aaron would be in town, as his family never took vacations, he'd probably be off somewhere, playing with Z all week, not caring about us girls. I will admit, the same thing had happened with Reggie in recent months. He was now in the first grade, and had a new friend, a blond boy by the name of Anthony, who was just as mean as he was, though at least with the two of them off playing together, he wasn't picking on me or my friends anymore, but I could only hope something exciting would come my way that upcoming week. My only living grandparents, my daddy's parents, came to visit us at Christmas, and at winter break, Hazel was in town, so we played a lot together in the snow, or if I was indoors, I kept Tommy company via Facetime, while the poor boy was sick in bed on his break with the Flu, but what would be going on over April break? I slumped back in my seat and sighed as I pondered that thought.

"Something wrong Rosie?" Hazel asked me.

I turned to my friend.

"Oh nothing Hazel, I'm just, kind of disappointed that I'm gonna be all alone for spring break." I said with a shrug.

"Don't worry Rosie, you can always talk to Tommy on your sister's iPad if you should get lonely." Said Hazel.

She did have a point. I could always go to Tommy if I was feeling bored or lonely, so I took my best friend's advice for what it was worth, as I saw my friends get off at their bus stops, and told them all to have a nice vacation. Then, it finally came time for me to get off at my apartment building, where I went home and met up with my sister. Later that night at dinner though, was when I got the best news I could receive all week.

"After dinner kids you need to pack up your suitcases and get ready for bed." Said my mommy, as she lay down a bowl of Italian Wedding soup in front of me.

"How come mommy?" I asked.

"Honey? Do you wanna tell them?" My mommy asked my daddy.

"Well Rosie and Mary, your mother and I have business trips out in California this next week. So, we spoke with our good friends out there, and, you'll be spending the week at Stu and Didi Pickles!" Said my daddy.

I was so excited, I nearly choked on my first bite of soup!

"A week? With Tommy? Oh mommy, daddy, thank you thank you thank you!" I said excitedly, as I bounced up and down in my chair with excitement.

I'll admit, I hadn't heard much from Tommy lately via Facetime, so it would be nice to see him in person. Perhaps he was avoiding me because based on this last minute announcement, I could tell they set up this trip as a surprise, so maybe he didn't wanna accidentally spoil it for me. Unfortunately, I would soon find out the truth, and not a very pleasant truth at that.

After dinner, I got everything packed that I would need for my trip. A week's worth of clothes, some toys for the airplane, and the one thing I never left home without, the Dummi Bears throw blanket that Tommy had given to me for my birthday a couple of years ago when he came up for a visit. I went to bed, too excited to sleep, but I started counting off all of the things that I hoped Tommy and I would do together, and sleep, finally came. I awoke early the next morning, and got on the plane, where the flight was uneventful. We transferred in a place called Dallas, Texas, and continued on to California, where we got off at our final destination.

Just like when we went back when me and Tommy met for the first time, my parents rented a car, and we were on our way to Tommy's house. I could hardly sit still on the ride over there, it took my sister constantly patting me on the leg to keep me calm. Finally, we made it, and no sooner had my daddy pulled the car into the driveway and shut it off, when I jumped out of the car and ran up the sidewalk to the door, ringing the doorbell, while my parents and sister were still getting out of the car and getting our things.

The door soon opened and Didi, Tommy's mommy was staring down at me.

"Hi." I said with a smile.

"Hello Rosie, glad you could make it." Said Didi, as she smiled down at me.

"Where's Tommy?" I asked.

"He's out back with his friends." Said Didi, as I scooted past her and ran for the double glass doors in the kitchen and ran outside, where I found Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Dil, Zack, and Jesse all playing in the yard.

"Hi Tommy." I said.

"Hey Rosie." Said Tommy, as he stopped what he was doing, and ran over to give me a hug.

No sooner were we embracing, when he julted back and ran inside.

"What's wrong?" I called, but I didn't receive an answer.

All I heard was a toilet flush, somebody sneezing and blowing their nose, then, a minute or two later, Tommy came back outside to play with us.

"Come on you guys, let's play jungle explorers." Said Tommy.

"Oh boy I love jungle explorers!" I said excitedly.

"Great idea Tommy." Said Zack.

By this time, I had gone around and told everybody hi, and we started our game. We were only playing for a few minutes, when Tommy ran inside again.

"What's going on with Tommy you guys?" I asked.

"I don't know Rosie, he's been acting like that all day." Phil replied.

A minute later, he returned to the backyard, appearing to be all sweaty and out of breath, with some snot hanging from one of his nostrils.

"Uh, Tommy, what's that?" I asked, pointing to his nose.

"It's nothing." Said Tommy, as he sniffled, wiped his face with his hand, and we started to continue our game, when Chuckie spoke up.

"You're coming down with a cold, and don't want Rosie knowing about it, aren't you Tommy?" Chuckie asked.

I saw Tommy's face get red with embarrassment, as he turned towards Chuckie.

"I'm fine, now come on!" Said Tommy, as he started to guide us through the jungle again.

"Come on guys, to the drain forrest, where there's lots of big aminals, like…" Tommy started to say, before he started coughing.

He had quite the coughing fit, as I went up and put a hand on his shoulder. He turned and looked at me.

"Are you sure you're ok Tommy? You don't sound all that good." I said.

"I'm fine Rosie, I just…" Tommy started to say, before he sneezed again.

"Wow! You do got a cold." Said Jesse.

Tommy got up from the ground and ran inside, this time, not returning. I knew it. He got sick probably on the day of my arrival, as had he been sick beforehand, none of his friends would be over playing, and his mommy would have said something, but he didn't want me to know and worry about him. However, this was only the beginning. It was then that I noticed something very odd. While we waited for Tommy to return, which, he didn't, I looked across the yard, to see that Lil and Kimi, weren't playing with us. Rather, they were having a tea party, all by themselves. Noticing they were all alone, I struck up an idea.

"Well guys, while we wait for Tommy to return, why don't we ask Lil and Kimi to come play with us." I suggested.

Dil, who had overheard this, along with the other boys, started laughing. Even Phil and Chuckie, who were their brothers were laughing.

"What?" I asked, but they kept on laughing.

"You don't know, do you Rosie." Said Zack.

"No, what Zack?" I asked, but before Zack could explain, my parents walked out into the yard.

"Who's ready to go see the Dummi Bears exhibit at the children's museum?" Asked my daddy.

I jumped at the sound of this news, as did everybody else in the yard. Even Lil and Kimi stopped their tea party to come and join us, and we all went to the museum. I couldn't help but notice that Tommy didn't come with us.

"Where's Tommy mommy?" I asked.

"Tommy has a cold and had to stay behind, but his mommy told me she'll take you two back later on in the week when he's better, if you're interested in going to see the exhibit a second time with him." My mommy replied.

"Oh, ok." I said with a sigh, as we went into the museum, and looked at the exhibit.

It was lots of fun! There were paintings of the Dummi Bears everywhere, as well as skulptures, and a really fun activities section, where we could make our own pictures, build with blocks, climb up the ladder into this replica of an airplane and slide down the slide on the other side, and more! We played there until the museum closed, at which time, I went back to Tommy and Dil's house, where Tommy was slowly eating a bowl of chicken and rice soup. I joined him at the table, and had some spaghetti and told him all about my afternoon at the museum. He had nothing to say, either because he didn't feel good, or felt bad about missing the trip, but he did smile when I told him that when he was better, his mommy would take us both back.

Originally, Mary and I were going to sleep in Tommy and Dil's room, but with Tommy being sick, they had us sleep across the hall in his grandpa's old room instead. The next day though, I finally got some answers to a question that was pondering in my mind ever since I got there, why weren't Lil and Kimi playing with the guys? Tommy was still too sick to go out and play, and by this time, his throat was soar, so I left him alone to rest, while I went over next door to Phil and Lil's house, where I found Lil and Kimi coloring in coloring books at the coffee table in Lil's living room. I knelt down on the floor at one end and spoke up.

"Hi Lil, hi Kimi." I said.

"Hi Rosie." Lil replied.

"I have a question. Why don't you guys play with the boys no more?" I asked.

"Coodies." Lil and Kimi replied simultaneously.

"Coodies?" I asked in confusion.

I knew that Aaron went off to play with Z, but I figured it was only because they were really good friends. Now, there's this thing called coodies? What was I missing?

"You know, coodies, it's that thing that separates us from boys and girls." Explained Lil.

"No it doesn't." I replied.

"Yes it does, and everybody at preschool says that if we play with the boys, we'll get coodies, and can't return to preschool." Said Kimi.

"And since we're all spose to go to kindergarten nextest year, we can't afford to get coodies and not finish preschool." Lil added.

"Oh, well ok, but you two have brothers you're really close to. How do Phil and Chuckie feel about this?" I asked.

Lil leaned in and whispered something in my ear.

"Don't tell no one, but when me and Phillip are at home, we'll play together. We just, don't play together when the other boys are around." Whispered Lil in my ear.

Then, it was Kimi's turn to do the same.

"Me and Chuckie play together when we're by ourselves, but not when the other kids are around." Kimi whispered in my ear.

"Oh, got ya. But wait a second, Tommy let me play with him and the boys yesterday when I gotted here, when he was starting to get sick before we all went to the museum with my parents." I said.

"Tommy was probably only doing that to be nice. You are his special girl and the guest." Said Lil.

"Yeah you're probably right." I said, as I picked up a crayon and started coloring in a picture of Jelly Bear in the Dummi Bears coloring book that was out in front of me.

As I colored, I started thinking about our little conversation. How the girls and boys weren't playing together with one another anymore all because of this thing called coodies. Then, it hit me, was Tommy only just being nice? Would I soon find out once his cold was gone, that he too, wasn't playing with the girls anymore? And, would he, ditch me? Then, I thought to myself, nah, Tommy wouldn't do that, he's not like other boys. He wouldn't wanna make me sad, so he'd go against the crowd and play with me no matter what.

He had to stay in bed for another couple of days, so I continued to play with Lil and Kimi, and it was amazing how much we had in common. Lil and I were both interested in playing soccer when we got to kindergarten and would be old enough to play on the teams in our home towns, and Kimi and I had quite a love for the Dummi Bears, we talked about our favorite characters, episodes, and even pretended to be the Dummi Bears for one afternoon. Then came the day when it all happened. Tommy was feeling better, so Peter, who was over babysitting for the afternoon, took us all to the park. When we got there, Tommy introduced me to two of his classmates, who were definitely boys, and against playing with girls.

"Uh, Rosie, I'd like for you to meet two of the boys from my class. Teddy Mcnulty and Tom Daniels, meet my friend Rosie." Said Tommy, as he pointed to the two unfamiliar boys that stood before me.

I reached out to shake their hands, only to have them pull their hands away.

"Eeewww! I'm not shaking a girl's hand." Said Teddy.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because we might get girl coodies." Said Tom Daniels.

"Oh." I said with a frown.

"Don't worry Rosie, I'll still play with you." Said Tommy, who looked at me and smiled.

I smiled back and we went on playing. Unfortunately, the games got to be ones I didn't care for much. The first game everybody wanted to play was pretending to be super heros.

"Let's play super heros. I'm Captain Squash." Said Teddy.

"I'm Captain Blasto." Said Tom.

"I'm gonna be my favoritest super hero ever, Reptar." Said Tommy, as he let out a roar, pretending to be a dinosaur.

"I'm gonna be Dory." I said excitedly.

"That's not a super hero, that's a blue fish who can't even remember her own name." Said Teddy.

Just then, Peter walked up behind me and overheard the whole thing.

"Hey, I got an idea, how about if Rosie is Wonder Woman." Suggested Peter.

"That's impossible, Rosie's hair is pink, not black." Said Tom.

"What was I thinking?" Asked Peter.

"Hey I've gots an idea, you can be Captain Squash and Captain Blasto's mother." Suggested Tommy.

"What does she do?" I asked.

"Uh, I think she makes their jammies." Said Tommy.

"Well, uh, ok." I said, as we went on playing.

"Captain Blasto, Captain Squash, Reptar, your breakfast is ready." I said, still pretending to be everybody's mommy.

I assumed I was also Reptar's mommy too, since as far as I knew, he didn't have one, so maybe we adopted the dinosaur, but Tommy didn't say nothing, since he knew deep down my parents didn't approve of me having anything to do with Reptar. Of course, I knew to keep quiet about the whole thing, as the three super hero boys came and paraded into my tea set, or rather, the one I was borrowing from Lil and Kimi to use for our pretend stuff, and we all played. After we had our pretend breakfast, I spoke up.

"I've gots an idea, let's play house." I suggested.

"That's a great idea! What do you say to that you guys?" Tommy asked Tom and Teddy.

"Boys don't play house." Said Teddy.

"Yeah, boys play guns, come on Teddy." Said Tom, as he started pointing his finger and pretending it was a gun.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!" Said Tom and Teddy, as they ran around the park, pretending to play guns. Then, one of them picked up my Jelly Bear toy and started pretending it was a gun. Noticing this, I went over to those boys and stopped them.

"Jelly Bear is not a gun." I said, snatching my toy out of Teddy's hand.

"Come on you guys, Rosie is my guest, can't we play what she wants to play?" Tommy asked the other boys.

"Yeah, I'm Tommy's guest and I say we're playing house." I said.

"Ok, let's play house and then we'll blow it up with our guns." Said Teddy.

That game turned into a disaster, as Tommy too joined in the gun fight near the end to my unpleasant surprise.

"Come on you guys, let's go back to my house, where we can play my new Battleship computer game, and Reptar race track." Suggested Tom.

"What about Rosie? Can she come too?" Tommy asked.

"Yeah, what about Rosie?" I asked.

"Pickles, you know the penalty for playing with girls. If you bring Rosie with us, I'm gonna tell everybody at preschool that you're a girl lover, and you know what happens to boys who play with girls." Said Teddy.

"What?" Tommy asked.

"They don't graduate from preschool at the end of the year, getting to go on to kindergarten." Said Teddy.

"That's not true." Said Tommy.

"Oh yes it is. Remember Dolse? The kid who ate Miss Weamer's ghinny pig, thinking it was a piece of candy? Well, they say he played with girls, and because of that, he's in some lifetime preschool program far far away somewhere." Explained Teddy.

"I don't know who you guys are talking about, but I'm sure Tommy's right, I'm sure you're just making that up, aren't you?" I said.

"And what do you know Rose bud? You're just a little girl, you don't know nothing. Come on Tom, come on Tommy, let's go." Said Teddy, as he grabbed Tom and Tommy's hands, and ran off with them towards the exit of the park, where Teddy's mom was waiting for them.

"Sorry Rosie." Tommy called back towards my direction before turning to go off with his new friends, but I didn't say nothing. Rather, I just collapsed down to the ground with my head buried in my hands, and started to cry. It looked like the end was near for me and Tommy, and this made me very unhappy.

End of Rosie POV

And this, ends chapter 1. Originally, this was going to be a one-shot story, but I felt it might be best, if I broke it up into 2 chapters at least, so, stay tuned, and see what happens, in the second chapter.


	2. The Painful Truth

Chapter 2, The Painful Truth

Rosie POV

Later on, I went back to Tommy's house, where I sat down with Peter while Tommy's parents were overseeing him and Dil take their baths. I was all ready for bed, but couldn't get to sleep, because after what I witnessed that afternoon at the park, a question crossed my mind.

"What are you doing up?" Peter asked, as I took a seat across from him at the kitchen table.

"I can't sleep Peter." I replied.

"Awe, what's wrong Rosie?" Peter asked.

"Well, I got a question. What's the difference between boys and girls?" I asked.

"So, uh, your question is, what's the difference between boys and girls." Said Peter, as he cleared his throat.

"That's my question, now what's the answer?" I asked.

"Well let's see, boys get to lead when you dance." Said Peter, as I started to have an interesting imaginary thought.

In my mind, Tommy and I were dressed up in fancy clothes in a huge ball room.

"Ok Rosie, now just, do what I do. One sixty, elevendy. One nine twenty-two." Counted Tommy as he started moving his arms and legs like he was doing a waltz, wearing a handsome tuxedo.

Me, wearing a puffy yellow princess dress that reached down to the floor, started following along as best as I could, doing all I could to not trip on the skirt of my long dress, only I did trip once, and Tommy caught me.

"No worries Rosie, I got you." Said Tommy, as I clung on to my four-year-old friend's shoulders for dear life, and came out of my imaginary thought.

"G, and I always thought Tommy was always leading us on stuff cuz that's just, the kind of person he was. I didn't realize it was part of being a boy." I said to myself.

"Well boys do tend to like to be the leader. I mean, look at me. I'm the king of the Confederacy, and I'm a boy." Said Peter.

"That's true. So, what else is different about boys and girls?" I asked.

"Well, boys can grow a little mustatch right here." Said Peter, pointing to beneath his nose.

Then, I started to imagine what Tommy would look like with a little purple mustatch beneath his nose, to match his hair. In my mind, he sure looked cute! Once I finished having this image stare at me for a few minutes, I julted back to reality, as Peter continued explaining the differences between boys and girls to me.

"Oh yeah, and when you're at a ball game or a concert or something, the lines at the men's room are so much shorter." Said Peter.

I then had a flashback to roughly a year ago, when we went to one of Reggie's baseball games, as he was playing on Little League, but neither one of his parents could come to the game, so my family took him. During the game, I really had to go to the bathroom, but my mommy didn't wish to miss any of the game, so my daddy took me back there, only the line for the lady's room was super long, so he took me into the men's room instead. Good thing too, because I wasn't sure if I was going to make it, and was very thankful that the line was so short.

"So Rosie, does that answer your question?" Peter asked me, upon my returning to the present to stare up at him, as he noticed I was lost in thought for a minute.

"Yes, it does." I replied.

"Oh thank goodness." Peter replied, as I got up from the table and headed up to bed, with a plan in my mind.

The next morning, I made sure to awaken early, so as to finish my breakfast before Tommy and Dil came downstairs, as I recall them being up late the night before, watching Reptar vs. the Aliens with Peter, while I went off to take my bath, which Mary helped me do, since mommy and daddy were out late at some business meetings and dinner. Once I finished breakfast and overheard Tommy and Dil coming downstairs, I snuck off to a corner so they wouldn't see me. I saw them go into the kitchen, which told me the coast was clear, to put my plan into action. I quietly snuck upstairs to Tommy and Dil's bedroom, where I peaked into the closet, looking for the perfect outfit. Luckily Tommy and I wore close to the same size at this point, so finding an outfit that would fit me wouldn't be too much trouble. I reached in and pulled out a pair of blue jeans, a white top, and a black leather jacket. To my surprise, I had never seen Tommy wear these clothes, but maybe he didn't wear them often. I then put on the clothes along with my black shoes, since they were sneakers, that either boys or girls would wear. Then, I had to fix my hair differently. Remembering seeing this war show on TV once, where boys with long hair would pull them back into ponytails without the fancy ribbons, I did just that, leaving my dark purple ribbon out of my hair that day. Then, I had to figure out a way to get Tommy and his friends attention, without actually seeing them, as I wanted my boy disguise, to be a surprise. Then, it hit me. I found a scrap of paper on the floor of Tommy and Dil's room under neath his bed, and a Reptar pencil. Luckily, I could write enough to write a simple message.

"Rosie's gots a big ser prize." I wrote on the note, then threw it down the laundry shoot, where it landed in a basket of clean clothes at the bottom.

Little did I know it had in the basket, the outfits that Tommy and Dil would be wearing that day. I then snuck back into the room where me and Mary were staying, waiting to see if I heard anything odd, or if my note would be discovered.

"Hey Dilly, what's this?" I heard Tommy ask from the other room.

"Don't know." Dil replied.

Tommy ran out of their room, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw the piece of paper in his hand. He ran downstairs and I could hear some voices, but couldn't make out much of what they were saying, so I snuck down the hall quietly and listened from the top of the stairs to the conversation down in the kitchen.

"Well Champ, the handwriting looks to be that of a child, and the note reads, Rosie's got a big ser prize. Not sure what ser prize means." I overheard Stu saying to Tommy.

Then, some russling of paper was heard and I heard Didi say something.

"Hmmm, I think Rosie meant to put surprise." I heard Didi say.

"I think you're right Deed." Said Stu.

"What could it be?" Tommy asked.

"Well, your friends will be over soon, and Peter is coming back to watch you guys today, maybe you'll find out then." Said Stu.

"I hope so. Ever since I went off to play with Tom and Teddy yesterday afternoon, Rosie's been acting strange." Said Tommy.

I snuck back off to my room, where Mary spotted me.

"Rosie! What on earth?" Mary asked me.

"I'm a boy now, and that's all you need to know." I said quietly, putting a finger to my lips, as I didn't want anybody else to know.

"Why are you being a boy?" Mary asked.

"Never mind, you wouldn't understand." I said.

A little while later, the doorbell buzzer rang, and it sounded like everybody had shown up to play. It was also going to be the last day of my visit, so I only hoped this disguise would get Tommy to play with me again, because between his cold and running off to play with boys only, we hardly played together all week, and I was getting plumb sick of it. I wanted my friend back, and I'd do anything, to get him back.

"Dil, Rosie, Mary, your friends are here. Peter's also here too, and we're off to the Cheese Festival, so be good." Called Didi from downstairs.

I saw the three-year-old Dil run down the stairs, and I let Mary go ahead of me.

"Would you come on Rosie?" Mary said impatiently, as she turned to find me still in the doorway of our bedroom.

"I'll be right there, just, go on downstairs." I said, as she and Dil ran off downstairs.

As I approached the stairs, I overheard everyone talking.

"Why is Rosie coming to play with us anyway?" I heard Tom ask.

"I don't know." I heard Chuckie say.

"Well, she did say she's gots a big surprise for us, maybe she wants to show it to us." Said Tommy.

"Wow a surprise? Neat!" Said Phil.

"I only hope it's a good surprise." Said Chuckie.

At that moment, I knew it was time for me to make my move. So I ran down the stairs, showing off my outfit and making my voice sound like a boy's to the best of my ability, I said hi to everyone.

"Hi Tommy, hi Tom, hi Teddy, hi Chuckie, hi Phil, hi Jesse, hi Dil, hi Zack." I said in my new voice.

"What's wrong with your voice Rosie?" Dil asked.

"I'm a boy now." I replied.

"No you're not." Said Teddy.

"Yes, I am. Come on, let's go play guns, last one up the stairs to Tommy and Dil's room is a girl!" I said in my new boy voice, as all of the other boys trotted up the stairs ahead of me, me ending up at the end of the line.

We started playing our game of guns, until my pretend gun, one of Tommy's pretend ray guns he got for Christmas that made really cool sounds and stuff, accidentally shot Reptar in the leg. Being upset by giving Reptar a pretend booboo, I picked him up and tended to his wound.

"What are you doing?" Teddy asked, as he turned and noticed me tending to Reptar's wound.

"I'm being a nurse, this dinosaur has a really bad owie." I replied.

"Boys can't be nurses." Said Teddy.

"They can too." I replied.

Just then, some grown ups walked into the room and the gun fighting started up again, as I continued to sit on the bed with Reptar. It was my mommy and daddy. Worried they'd be mad at me for playing with Tommy's Reptar doll, I quickly hid it beneath Tommy's pillow and turned around.

"Woe! Good thing I wore my anti ray gun pellent." Said my daddy, as he came into the room.

"Let's get out of here, she's not a real boy." Said Tom, as he led everybody past my mommy and daddy out of Tommy and Dil's room.

"Sorry Rosie, nice try though." Said Tommy, as he was the last one to leave the room to go play with his friends.

I was about ready to cry again, when my daddy sat down on the bed and put an arm around my shoulders. I looked up at him, a sad expression on my face.

"I'm sorry to mess up your game, but our flight for tomorrow got canceled, so looks like we're going to have to leave a day early." Said my daddy.

"That's fine by me, as I'm a crummy boy anyway." I replied.

"That's because you're not a boy, you're a girl. Why do you want to be a boy?" My daddy asked.

"Because Tommy doesn't wanna play with girls anymore." I replied.

"Ah, I see, so you tried to dress up as a boy to trick him into thinking you were one." Said my daddy.

I nodded.

"Well sweetie, I know this might be saddening to learn, but Tommy is going through a stage right now." Said my daddy.

"What's that?" I asked.

"Well, a stage is when you go through something, in this case, a dislike of something, and then, eventually, you change your mind, and grow out of it. For Tommy, that's his, I don't wanna play with girls stage." Explained my daddy.

"I don't like this stage." I said, about ready to cry.

"I know you don't, but if Tommy's your friend, he'll eventually come back, kind of like back when you went through a stage where you didn't wanna watch The Dummi Bears." Said my daddy.

"I did?" I asked.

"Yep. It only lasted for a week, but then, they were airing new episodes again and you couldn't wait to watch it again." My daddy explained.

"I just want Tommy to talk to me and play with me again." I said.

"If Tommy's your friend, he'll come back, because that's what real friends do." Said my daddy.

"Look, I hate to break up this little conversation, but our plane leaves in an hour, so Rosie, we need you to get out of those clothes and get your stuff packed." Said my mommy.

"Fine." I muttered, as I changed out of my useless boy disguise and threw Tommy's clothes on to his bed, put back on my purple dress, and we headed off to the airport.

On the way out of Tommy's house, we ran into Peter, who looked frustrated, as he was fittling with his iPhone.

"Something wrong Peter?" My daddy asked him.

"Oh I'm so mad right now. I recently had to do a restore on my phone because it had frozen, and I've now lost all of my contacts." Said Peter.

"Well, did you back up all of your stuff to iCloud with iTunes?" My daddy asked him.

"No." Said Peter.

"Oh dear. Well good luck Peter, we're heading back to Boston." Said my daddy.

"Have a good trip." Said Peter, as we left Tommy's house for the last time.

On the flight home, I was relatively quiet, not saying much to anybody, unless I was spoken to. I hardly ate much more than the tiny bag of peanuts they gave out on the airplane and drank one soda. I kept pondering over what my daddy had said to me back when we were still in Tommy's room, about his no longer being interested in playing with girls anymore. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. Once we got home, I grabbed my suitcase, ran into the apartment, stomped up the stairs, thrust it on to my bed, and started taking everything out of it.

That's when I had nothing left in the suitcase but the Dummi Bears throw blanket. I was so angry at this point, that I didn't wish to no longer see such an important piece of history that only came about because of, that bso called boy, so I nearly attempted to do something that would have gone off without a hit, had my plan not been interrupted. I reached into my cup for preschool where I kept things like pens, pencils and scissors, where I pulled out the pair of scissors. I went back over to the bed with the scissors and was about to chop up the blanket into tiny threads, when a voice startled me.

"Rosie! No!" Came a voice from behind me.

I stopped what I was doing to turn to see my mommy standing in the doorway, a look of displeasure on her face.

"Rosie! What are you doing?" My mommy asked, as she sat down on the edge of my bed, and took the scissors and blanket from me.

"Chopping up my Dummi Bears blanket." I replied.

"But you love this blanket, why would you wanna rip it up?" My mommy asked.

"Because it came from, him." I snapped.

My mommy put a comforting arm around my shoulder, as I took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"Honey, daddy told me that Tommy is going through his I don't wanna play with girls stage, but that's no reason to rip up a special gift that he gave you." Said my mommy.

"It's a perfect reason. Tommy hates me, and if he wants to hate me, all because I'm a girl, then so be it." I said.

"Well sweetie, do you remember when he gave you that blanket? He came all the way here to visit you for your birthday." Said my mommy.

"Yeah and he proceeded to get sick." I said.

"Well that's true, you both came down with the stomach bugs that were going around, but you took care of one another, and you and Tommy hardly left one another's sides when he came. And sweetie, Tommy not only came to visit you, but he and Peter came all the way from California to visit you, and that's not something that a lot of two-year-olds would think of doing." Said my mommy.

"Really? How come? Is California really far away from here?" I asked.

Just then, my mommy got up and opened a drawer in the desk that me and my sister shared, and pulled out a map. Sitting back down on the bed, she showed me the map.

"This, is a map of America, where we live. Here is where we live, in the state of Massachusetts." Said my mommy, as she put her finger on a tiny piece that looked kind of like a boot on the right side of the map.

"And this, is the state of California, where Tommy lives." Said my mommy, as she pointed to a huge piece on the left side of the map, all the way across several other pieces, which must be other states.

"Wow! So me and Tommy live on opposite sides of the country from one another." I said.

"Mmmm hmmm." My mommy replied.

"No wonder that visit was special." I said.

"So see? Don't rip up something very special from a friend just because they don't wish to be your friend right now. Let it be a symbol of the memories of your friendship." Said my mommy.

"Oh, ok, I won't rip it up." I said with a sigh, as I picked up the blanket and put it into my mommy's lap.

"Tell you what, why don't we put it on the top shelf of the closet for now, that way, if you should ever wish to use it again, we'll know right where it is." Said my mommy, as she folded up the blanket, went into the closet, and put it on the top shelf.

"I don't like this stage, I want Tommy to come back." I said.

My mommy closed the door and sat back down on the bed.

"Well sweetie, I'm sure Tommy will grow out of this stage eventually, and even if he doesn't, you're gonna be going to kindergarten next year, and maybe there, you'll make some new friends, maybe even some boys. And when the boys want to play with you, that's when I get to go through my keep away from my daughter stage." Said my mommy.

I just giggled.

"And sweetie, some people, like me and daddy, are lifetime friends, while some people, are just, weather friends. They're only here for a season, but regardless, you can always have the memories to reflect on the good times." Explained my mommy.

"But what if nobody wants to be my friend?" I asked.

"Now sweetie, don't say that. Of course other boys and girls will want to be your friend, and do you know why?" My mommy asked.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because you, are Rosie Louise Hall. You are a terrific person. You're sweet, kind, funny." Said my mommy.

I just smiled and gave her a hug.

"Keep going." I said.

"Friendly, polite." Said my mommy.

As she continued to list off all of my good traits, she helped me get all ready for bed and tucked in. Once she turned out the light and closed the door, I thought I was finally back to myself, when I turned and saw a picture of me and Tommy on my bedside table. It was taken back around the time when we met, and me and Tommy were playing together for the first time at the park. He had been sick with a virus that had turned into a sinus infection on the day we really got to know each other, but we didn't know of the sinus infection just yet. He was tired though, so we found a tree, where I leaned against the trunk and had Tommy lie down on the ground and put his head in my lap. The two of us two-year-olds took a nap together, and unknown to either one of us right then, both, my mommy and Peter spotted us sleeping together, and thought it looked so cute, that they took a picture, which later, we both got copies of, so we could always remember that day together, and see each other, despite us living so far apart. Normally, looking at that picture made me smile, but not tonight. Rather, it made tears come to my eyes, at which time, I rolled over, buried my face into my pillow, and cried myself to sleep.

End of Rosie POV

The End

And this, sadly, ends the main story. However, stay tuned for an epilogue, which is coming in the next chapter.


	3. Epilogue

Chapter 3, Epilogue

Rosie POV

The following day, I took the picture off of my bedside table, and hid it at the bottom of my sock drawer, never to see it again. As I returned to preschool and the weeks carried on, I was sad for a short time, and whenever one of my friends would ask me what was bothering me, I'd simply tell them it was boys. As preschool graduation grew closer, I started to grow excited about that, more or less, putting him, completely out of my mind.

Sadly, I never heard from, him, at all that summer, which told me that regardless if he was still going through his, I don't wanna play with girls stage, or if he did, start playing with people like Lil and Kimi again, he didn't care to talk to girls across the country from him, only girls across the street. I went on to summer camp, took swimming lessons, and got prepared for kindergarten, which I was really excited about, especially when I found out that Hazel and I would be in the same class together.

Finally, our first day of kindergarten began, and we had a lovely teacher named Miss Doozy. We also had an aray of new students who didn't go to preschool with us. Aaron and Z were in our class, and they were still arm and arm with one another, as if they were somehow joined together over the summer, never to split up, but during circle time that morning, another boy caught my eye. He had dark brown hair and he wore a bright green short sleeve t-shirt and a pair of long purple overall pants. Then, it hit me. Did I want to get close to this boy? I decided to play the hard to get approach, and pretend to hate boys, just to see if he fell for it.

"Uh, hi." Said the dark haired boy who sat across from me in the circle.

"I'm not talking to you, cuz you're a boy. Boys are gross!" I said, sticking my tongue out at him.

"Rosie! What's gotten into you?" Hazel asked me, as I turned to my buttery blond haired friend, who was wearing a shocked expression on her face.

"I don't play with boys, that's what." I said, sticking out my tongue.

"Oh, I see. And why not?" Hazel asked.

"Cuz if we play with boys we'll get coodies and we'll never get out of kindergarten." I replied.

"I guess that makes me have coodies, cuz I personally like playing with girls." Said the dark haired boy who sat across from me.

I put my tongue away and just stared at him.

"Now that a girl. Let's put are tongues away and put on our happy faces." Said Miss Doozy, as she sat down in her rocking chair and saw to beginning class.

"Now, since it is our first day of school, I thought we could go around the circle and introduce ourselves. I'd like you all to say your name, how old you are, and something you like to do. We'll start with the girl immediately to my left with the beautiful buttery blond hair." Said Mixx Doozy, who pointed to Hazel.

"Hi, my name's Hazel. I'm five-years-old and, I like to eat worms." Said Hazel.

"Eeewww!" Said several of the kids in the circle.

While she was my best friend since we were babies, I'm sorry, but I had to give her a dirty look. We were five-years-old now, it was about time she see to growing out of such gross and disgusting habits. Hmmm, made me wonder if Phil, somebody who I recalled Hazel liking when we were all in Washington D.C. a while back, if he too, still ate worms, seeing that I believe he too would be starting kindergarten right about now.

"Hey! It's your turn!" Hissed Hazel in my ear, tapping on my shoulder to get my attention.

"Oh, sorry. Uh, everybody, my name is Rosie and I'm five-years-old. And, I like to watch the Dummi Bears." I said.

"Does anybody else here like the Dummi Bears?" Asked Miss Doozy.

Several of the kids in the circle nodded, including the dark haired boy sitting across from me. Everybody went around the circle and introduced themselves, then, it got to his turn. I could tell he seemed a little bit shy, but once he stared over at me, he seemed to relax a bit.

"Hi, uh, my name's Bassum, and I'm five-years-old. I like to play on the slide at the park." He said.

" _Bassum, what a nice name._ " I thought to myself.

"Well Bassum, you're in luck, we have a slide right here on our playground, which you can play on at recess every day." Said Miss Doozy.

Bassum looked up at our teacher and smiled.

It took a little bit to break the ice, but we continued to stare at one another throughout that first week of school. I couldn't help but notice that Bassum always seemed to have a smile when he stared at me. Did he like me or something? I finally had a chance to get to really know him during art class later on in the week. I had finished my painting, when I looked over to see that poor Bassum was struggling just a little bit.

"Something wrong Bassum?" I asked, noticing the look of frustration on his face.

"I just can't get this picture to look the way I want it to." Bassum snapped in frustration.

"Here, let me help you." I said, as I picked up the paint brush and put some yellow paint on the brush.

"I take it you're trying to make the sun? To go with this picture of a tree?" I asked.

"Uh huh." Bassum replied.

"Here, just, do a simple yellow circle, and color it in, like this." I said, as I took the paint brush and made the sun at the top of his picture.

When I was finished, I turned to look at Bassum, who was smiling.

"Thanks Rosie." He said.

"You're welcome." I said.

As we got to know one another, we shared our lunches when we brought them from home, and then, one Friday afternoon after we had been in school for two weeks, I got up the courage to ask him a very big question.

"Hey, I was wondering, would you like to come play at my house after school?" I asked.

"Really? But I thought you didn't play with boys." Said Bassum.

"I use to not play with them, but, you and I have gotten to know one another quite well, and, I wanna get to know you better." I said.

"Sure! I'd love to come play with you. Gosh, nobody has ever asked me to play at their house before, this is gonna be so much fun!" Said Bassum excitedly, as we ran off to our cubbies to get our things.

Wow, nobody had ever had him over for a playdate? I wonder why. I could tell based on how much further behind he was in some simple things like letter recognition and knowing his numbers and colors, that this had to be his first time at school, so maybe he never went to preschool. Maybe I was his real first friend. However, I didn't want to bring up that subject, in case it was too embarrassing to talk about. He came home with me after school, and we had milk and cookies for a snack.

"Your mommy makes delicious chocolate-chip cookies, they're my favorite!" Said Bassum.

"Thank you." I replied, as we got up from the table and ran up to my room.

That's when I opened the closet door, looking for a game to play with. Bassum was standing to my right, also looking into the closet.

"What's that?" Bassum asked, as I saw him pointing at something.

Then, I saw the direction in which he was pointing in. He was pointing up to the top shelf of my closet, where my Dummi Bears throw blanket sat.

"Oh, it's just, a blanket from an old friend of mine. He gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago." I explained.

"Really? Who's the lucky boy?" Bassum asked.

I just stared at him for a minute. Was I ready to tell anybody other than my close girlfriends about Tommy? Well, Bassum seemed curious to know, so I took a deep breath and began.

"Tommy." I replied.

"Cool! Does this, Tommy, live around here? Maybe we can play together." Said Bassum with eager excitement in his voice.

I just stared at him and frowned.

"Nope, sorry. Besides, me and Tommy aren't friends no more." I said.

"Really? How come?" Bassum asked.

"Because Tommy doesn't like to play with girls no more. Rumor has it, if you play with girls, you don't finish preschool, or at least that's what we all thought back then." I said.

"Wow, you got to go to preschool? You're so lucky! I couldn't go to preschool, mommy and daddy didn't have enough money to send me there." Said Bassum.

"Oh, I'm very sorry." I said.

"That's ok. So, what does this Tommy person look like? Does he live around here? I'm a boy, surely he'd play with me." Said Bassum.

I knew it was going to be a long afternoon, but it looked like Bassum wasn't going to give up all that easily, so I reached down into the bottom of my sock drawer and pulled out the picture of us sleeping together.

"That's Tommy." I said, pointing to the boy with the dark purple hair on his head who was asleep in my lap.

"Wow, he sure does look friendly." Said Bassum.

"He is." I said.

As we went on playing all that afternoon, I kept having flashbacks to all of the times me and Tommy spent time together. When we first met that day I saw him in the gap of the fence that went into my grandmother's backyard. Then later, when I saw his picture on the wall at some coffee shop, and Chuckie and Kimi told me his name. Then that day when he had thrown up all over his wagon that looked like Reptar, and I had to get our mommy's attention to go clean up the mess. And then that day when we played together and we discovered that we had so much in common. I also recalled how he saved me when two bigger kids got me stuck in a tree at the park. All of our conversations on Facetime, like the time last year when I told him about my big trip to New York City, to cheer him up when he was having the most horrible day known to man, only to learn that while I was in New York City, he was doing what I had to consider to be one of the most heroic things for a one-year-old baby to do at the time, freeing some tigers in Slots Vegas. I recalled how we participated on Baby Races together, and afterwards, we told one another about our first slumber parties, even though technically, Tommy's was a sleepover, not a slumber party like his mommy made it out to be. And then when we took that trip to Washington D.C. when Tommy turned three-years-old and we were all about to start preschool. I was so worried about him when he had gone missing, and thanks to me, we rescued him and got him reunited with all of us. I recall how we napped together on the train home as he had to fly home out of Boston because his family missed their flight out of Washington, but poor Tommy was having a hard time dealing with strangers, after nearly getting killed by the guys who kidnapped him. I helped him to realize that he should never give up, making him feel like his old self by the end of that trip.

While the memories continued to flood my mind, it then hit me. Maybe Tommy wasn't meant to be my friend forever, but Bassum seemed ok, and unlike Tommy, we could play together in person everyday, both at school and at home. Then, Bassum told me something that was really special, and made me feel like a winner.

"Hey Rosie?" Bassum asked me.

"What?" I asked.

"Are we friends?" Bassum asked.

I stood there for a minute and thought about it. I did have a lot of fun with him that afternoon. We played Chinese Checkers, played on my scooter outside, and ate milk and cookies, surely, this had to be the start of a beautiful friendship.

"Yes, I'll be your friend." I said with a smile.

"Let's pinky promise to be friends forever." Said Bassum, as he hooked his right pinky around my left one.

"Uh, ok." I said, as I relaxed and wrapped my pinky around his.

"Do you Rosie Hall, pinky promise to be friends forever?" Bassum asked me.

I smiled longingly into his eyes.

"Yes, I pinky promise, to be friends forever." I said, as we shook on it.

Before he left for home, we gave one another a hug, and as I waved goodbye, watching him ride away in his mommy and daddy's car, a feeling of happiness fell over me that hadn't been there in quite a while. Maybe Tommy was gone, but this Bassum guy was ok, and it looked like we were beginning the start of a beautiful friendship, that would hopefully, last forever. And there was another thing that I realized too. I'd always have the memories of me and Tommy's time together, and just as I found a new little boy to play with, should Tommy get over his girl hatred stage, hopefully, he'd find a new little girl to make him happy too. And if he became like Aaron and Z, who were definitely the kind of boys who didn't play with girls, as I never saw them playing with the girls, even when we were in kindergarten, as long as Tommy was happy, that's all that mattered to me.

That night, I put the photo of me and Tommy back on my nightstand, and asked my mommy a question.

"Mommy?" I said.

"Yes?" Mommy asked.

"Could you please get down my Dummi Bears blanket from the top shelf of the closet? I'd like to sleep with it tonight." I said.

"But I thought you didn't like sleeping with this blanket anymore." Said my mommy.

"I didn't, but I've changed my mind." I said.

"Ok sweetie, here you go." Said my mommy, as she got the blanket down and handed it to me.

I unfolded it, wrapped up in the blanket, and went to sleep with a smile on my face and a song in my heart.

"Goodnight Rosie." Said my mommy, as she blew me a kiss from the door and turned out the lights.

"Night night mommy." I said, as I curled up with the blanket, turned to the pictures on my nightstand, as next to the one of me and Tommy, were the recent class photos taken of us, there was one of me and one of Bassum.

"Night night Tommy and Bassum." I said to the photos, as I blew them a kiss, turned over, and went to sleep, where I had sweet dreams.

End of Rosie POV

End of Epilogue


End file.
